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Popularity in Japan
Popularity in Japan During the 1930s, Betty Boop's popularity soared in Japan. The distributor for the Fleischer Studios was Paramount who, according to their advertising also handled Disney films in Japan. Paramount started to handle American films from its office in Tokyo from 1930. During that period Paramount's Tokyo branch promoted the Betty Boop series. After the character had become popular, she began to be referenced in Japanese media of the 30s. In the film Our Neighbor Miss Yae a Betty Boop cartoon can be seen being watched by a Japanese audience. The character's large eyes inspired Osama Tezuka's characters, one in particular was Princess Knight, where the character seems to have Betty Boop's hairstyle. The aesthetics taken from American animation would later go on to influence the creation and style of anime. The Fleischers responded to her popularity in Japan by releasing a cartoon entitled A Language All My Own, in which Betty pilots a plane to Japan, wears a kimono and sings live to an audience in Japanese. Animator Myron Waldman was concerned that the depiction should be authentic, so he asked several Japanese exchange students to preview the film before it was released. Most original Betty Boop merchandise from the 1930s were made by small enterprises in Japan for the US popular market, but no records were kept of the unauthorized merchandise since copyright and trademark rules were not enforced. Betty Boop's popularity in Japan exists to this day, although most Japanese people today are unaware that the character was a star of her very own cartoon series and see her more as an icon, akin to Marilyn Monroe. History in Japan *Japanese "Boop-Boop-a-Doop" singer Alice Hamada, known better as Nippon Betty Boop released several Boop-inspired songs in the 1930s, with her most popular being "Tweet Tweet Tweet". *In 1935 Haruyo Ichikawa recorded the Betty Boop theme song in Japanese. *In Japan the series first aired on TV in 1959 from May to December. *The series started airing on Japanese TV in the 1960s. Mariko Mukai dubbed the voice for Betty from the 1960s-1970s. *In 1976 Nintendo released Pretty Puzzle: Betty Boop. *In 1977 Betty and her brother Bubby Boop became the mascots for Ajinomoto Mayonnaise. During that time the series was airing on TV Tokyo. *Writer Tsutsui Yasutaka wrote "Betty Boop Den" in 1988, he is said to be a Betty Boop fan and collector. *In 2002 Betty was licensed for the Sammy Pachinko slot machine titled Betty Boop. '' *In 2003 Sammy licensed Betty again for ''CR Betty Boop, in which featured idol Akina Nakamori as Betty Boop. *In 2009 Betty was featured in several LG phone commercials titled Ladies & Girls and was paired with Yu Aoi. *In 2013 the character was featured in Line Play, a Japanese social application. *Betty also appeared as an avatar for Coin Gatcha. *The character was also portrayed by J-Pop artist Kyary Pamyu Pamyu for a Japanese Coca-Cola Halloween event in 2015. *Koda Kumi also used Betty Boop as merchandise in 2016 in a collaboration titled Koda Kumi × Betty Boop, for her Best Single Collection. Gallery Betty Boop in Nippon Japan 4.jpg Betty Boop in Nippon Japan 10.jpg Betty Boop in Nippon Japan 5.jpg Betty Boop in Nippon Japan 1.jpg Betty Boop in Nippon Japan 2.jpg Betty Boop in Nippon Japan 6.jpg Betty Boop in Nippon Japan 3.jpg Betty Boop in Nippon Japan 7.jpg Betty Boop in Nippon Japan 8.jpg Betty Boop in Nippon Japan 9.jpg Trivia *You can also check Betty Boop's official Japanese website to keep updated and find out more on the official Fleischer Studios website. Category:Trivia Category:Japan